Now, I like the way the rebuild can look in the latter scenario because it has the Colorado Avalanche building an impressive defensive corps. The inspiration comes from the Columbus Blue Jackets. As Jason Brough of NBC Sports points out, the Jackets turned their weakest point into their strongest. It has them top of the NHL right now.

As I noted in the post, the Colorado Avalanche have two pieces of that puzzle already in place — Erik Johnson as the skilled, talented vet and Tyson Barrie as the talented puck mover. Additionally, Colorado has a pretty exciting defenseman in Nikita Zadorov. We could plug him into the Ryan Murray slot, though I like partnering him with EJ.

Additionally, I could see Chris Bigras taking up one of the slots — maybe the Nutivaara slot space. That leaves the Avs needing two great pieces to complete the puzzle — a more-than-decent two-way defenseman and a stud d-man.

Colorado could pick up a two-way player in free agency. It’s the stud that’s the problem. The team would have to trade a core forward, Duchene or Landeskog, to land one.

If the Colorado Avalanche draft a defenseman high this year, develop Nicolas Meloche and perhaps trade a draft pick for a good prospect, that’s not too shabby. It’s not a fantastic blueline, but it’s serviceable.

That is, if the Colorado Avalanche shores up its forward corps. The Dallas Stars have shown us you can allow even three or four goals if you’re more than capable of scoring five or six yourself. (I’m not saying the Avs should adopt that as their philosophy.)

So, rather than unload Duchene, the Avs need to provide him the right kind of linemates. I’ve already proposed he’d do well with fellow speedster Matt Nieto. He also needs a solid two-way forward in the mold of Ryan O’Reilly or Paul Stastny. Maybe Sakic could target Martin Hanzal, though he’s already 30. (More on that in a moment.)

Keep Landeskog and keep him on the line with MacKinnon and Rantanen. That’s the only line that’s consistently shown any chemistry this season.

From there, the Avalanche forward corps is already going to look radically different. The following players are all unrestricted free agents this summer:

Additionally, Mikhail Grigorenko (22, $1.3 million) and Matthew Nieto (24, $735,000) are restricted free agents. No one wants to admit Grigorenko is a bust because he was a key piece of the O’Reilly trade. However, unless he takes a pay cut, he’s got to go. Nieto, if he plays as he did in his Avs debut, would be a nice addition with a modest contract.

The following players still have contracts at least through next season:

Soderberg is the tough one. If the Avalanche were able to unload him, they might have to retain salary. Maybe it’s better to just keep him.

I don’t know about getting rid of Comeau or McLeod. It’s tough to say a team would want to trade for either one. However, if the Avs had to retain some salary here, at least it wouldn’t be as onerous. In that case, trade McLeod with salary retained, and relegate Comeau to the fourth line.

I don’t mind keeping Colborne. He’s young — and that’s what the Colorado Avalanche need. Sakic is finally admitting that — the Avs need to get younger.

That’s the best rationale for keeping Duchene,who’s 25, and Landeskog, who’s 24. Both are in the prime of their careers and can blossom with the right supporting cast.

So, here’s what the Colorado Avalanche could potentially be pared down to forwards-wise:

Nathan MacKinnon (21, $6.3 million)

Matt Duchene (25, $6 million)

Gabriel Landeskog (24, $5.5 million)

Joe Colborne

Blake Comeau

Mikko Rantanen (20, $894,167)

Add to that Martinsen for the fourth line and Nieto, as needed. That still leaves Colorado up to six roster spots and a fair amount of cash available. (Like I said, Grigorenko could take one spot if he offered the “I’m not living up to my potential” discount.) Maybe AJ Greer or JT Compher could take up one of those roster spots.

The only way this plan works and makes the Colorado Avalanche a better team is if Joe Sakic manages to sign some two-way players — scratch that, young two-way players — on both forward and defense.

The team is supposed to have around $17 million of freed up cap space this summer. Get rid of Beauchemin to free up a spot as well as either McLeod or Comeau. The Colorado Avalanche could significantly improve without trading a core player.